Heidi Nelson

Biography

Heidi D. Nelson, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.C.P. is Research Professor and Vice
Chair of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology and Medicine, and
Director of Scholarly Projects for the Oregon Health & Science
University School of Medicine and Medical Director of Cancer Prevention
and Screening at Providence Health and Services in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Nelson's research, teaching, and clinical activities focus on
clinical epidemiology, screening and prevention, women's health, and
health care policy and delivery. Within DMICE, Dr. Nelson serves as a
lead investigator in the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice
Center and is the collaborating principal investigator for the
HRSA-sponsored Women's Preventive Services Initiative. Dr. Nelson has
conducted numerous systematic reviews on screening and prevention topics
used to inform decision making by the U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force, AHRQ Effective Healthcare Program, National Institutes of Health,
and multiple other partners since 1998. Her studies have been used to
determine clinical practice guidelines, health policy, and formulary and
coverage decisions affecting millions of Americans. She has published
over 100 journal articles and reports, and recently published a textbook
on systematic review methodology (Systematic Reviews to Answer Health
Care Questions. Wolters Kluwer: Philadelphia, 2014).

Dr. Nelson has also served as an investigator for several prominent
national studies, including the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures, Breast
Cancer Surveillance Consortium, Breast Pathology Study, and Melanoma
Pathology Study. She has served on influential national panels
including the Institute of Medicine Committee on Prevention Services for
Women that determined services to be covered under the Affordable Care
Act, PROSPR Scientific Consulting Committee for the National Cancer
Institute, and the NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Woman's Health.
In the School of Medicine, Dr. Nelson develops and directs Scholarly
Projects, a required component of the new MD curriculum in which medical
students create in-depth investigative projects across the course of
their medical school education with the goal of creating critical
thinkers and lifelong learners.